Road Trip 2008: Arches NP

Arches NP preserves over 2000 natural sandstone arches. The most famous one is Delicate Arch, to which I dedicated a separate post. But the park is also home to many other interesting rock formations that can easily ignite imagination not only of photographers.

There is only one small campground in the park, so it fills up very quickly. As we really wanted to stay within the park, to make sure it would happen, we got to the park at around 6 am... And even though we were there so early, there were already several other people in line in front of us. Luckily, the early bird catches the worm, and so did we manage to get one of the campsites.

We spent two days and two nights in the park, which seems to be just enough to see most of it (unless you plan to go backpacking). During that time we went for two longer and several shorter hikes. Descriptions of the shorter hikes you can find below, and to the longer ones I dedicated separate posts.

The Balanced Rock Trail is a short (0.3 mile) loop hike up to, and around, the Balanced Rock. It is definitely fascinating to see this balancing act of Nature:


The trail leading to the Park Avenue area is 1 mile long (one way) and leads next to several interesting rock formations. My favorite was the rock that Agnieszka and I called "Pharoah" (I think the official name of the rock is "Queen Nefertiti"):


Park Avenue, Courthouse Towers:




Petrified Dunes, La Sal Mountains in the background:




Garden of Eden, La Sal Mountains:






The hike to North and South Window is 1 mile (1.6 km) long and takes around 40 minutes:

Roadtrip 2008: Delicate Arch in Arches NP

Delicate Arch is the most widely recognized landmark of both Arches NP and Utah. Its delicate beauty inspired millions of amateur, as well as professional, photographers from all over the world. It was featured multiple times on magazine covers and it is also depicted on Utah license plates.

The best way to see it is to go on a 1.5 mile long (one way) hike that starts at Wolfe Ranch parking area. The hike is very pleasant even though you can not see the Arch until the very last 100 meters of the trail.

This hike is not wheel-chair accessible. But luckily, the Arch can also be seen from a viewpoint (Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint) that is located just next to the parking lot. From there you can see the Arch at a distance of about one mile and to take a good picture of it you will need a telephoto lens and a tripod.

From the Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint you can continue for another 0.5 mile to the Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint, which is closer to the Arch. However, the views from there are basically the same as from the Lower Viewpoint (though the need for a tele lens and tripod disappears).

We visited the Lower and Upper Viewpoints early in the morning, but we decided to hike to the base of Delicate Arch around sunset as this is the best time to see it. For around 5 minutes the color of the Arch is changing from yellow-orange into beautiful deep warm orange-red. It's definitely worth seeing this transformation, even though, literally, you will share this experience with several hundred other hikers and/or photographers... It did feel very artificial and surreal to be waiting with so many other people for the moment that each of us wished to be intimate.

Delicate Arch, early morning, view from the Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint:


Delicate Arch, early morning, view from the Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint:


Our shadows on the trail to Delicate Arch:


Hundreds of amateur photographers waiting for the sunset at Delicate Arch:


Delicate Arch, 45 minutes before sunset, the warm sunset light is not quite there yet:


Delicate Arch, 25 minutes before sunset, the long-awaited 4 minutes of warm light finally arrived:

Roadtrip 2008: Devils Garden Primitive Loop in Arches NP

At the end of the 18-mile long road leading through the park is the trailhead of the Devils Garden Primitive Loop. At 7.2 miles (11.5 km) it is the longest maintained trail in the park. It leads to several beautiful arches: Landscape, Tunnel, Pine Tree, Wall, Double O, Partition and Navajo. The first part of the trail is paved, level, and wide. But once you pass Landscape Arch, the trail gets rougher and at times difficult to find.

The highlight of the trail is Landscape Arch, which is the longest natural arch in the world, measuring 290 feet (88.4 m). Unfortunately, likely the arch will collapse some time soon. In the last several years three pieces of sandstone have fallen from its thinnest section, forcing the park to close the trail that once passed under it. I am definitely glad that I had a chance to see it while it still stands in all its glory.

Also other arches along the trail are worth seeing and I would definitely highly recommend this hike.

Landscape Arch:


Navajo Arch:


Pine Tree Arch:


Picnic at Dark Angel:


Other interesting rock formations along the trail:














Double O Arch (on the photo is lower O arch):




View to the Dark Angel Pinnacle through Double O Arch: